The history and future of a utopian marriage of Third Reich idealism and the wonderously vast tapestry of the animal kingdom.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Project Dinosaurierabteilung Begins

Now that things are settling back down in Beppin with foes vanquished and mysteries solved, I thought it was time to get back to my next big initiative for Beppin; the Dinosaurierabteilung. Now I can focus my energy of the dinosaur division for Beppin's military and get our first solid experiments underway. Now that our steering committees for this project have summised our roles and duties in this project, it was left to myself and Oberstgruppen-Führer Benedict to start putting into practise the information we've been studying.

I, personally, have been collecting gyorids and fossils in preparation and have managed to get a reasonably sizeable collection up. It's nowhere near the size of the Beppin National Museum, but it is a respectable amount of specimens from many of the dinosaur breeds. Upon further inspection of our museum, it became very apparent to me of how diverse and varied these ancients behemoths were. Although our initial plans are just to reanimate these creatures, once this has been achieved it will then start the process of deciding exactly which breeds of dinosaur shall be bred and the role the shall play in our military based on their strengths and abilities.

Alas, its much to soon to concern ourselves with this refinement process when we're just beginning our experiments at the most basic of levels. Indeed, there are still so many questions to be asked and answered in regards to this project that we must ensure we take this one step at a time to avoid the errors made by Herr Hitler's scientists.

A few weeks back I decided to develop the most northern wing of Baron Manor into a laboratory. I'd been collecting the necessary furniture for about 3 months and came to the conclusion that I had enough pieces to conduct experiments of many different disciplines in my own home. Now that our focus is on the Dinosaurierabteilung my ready made laboratory became the obvious place to start our experiments.

Going off the documents both I and Herr Benedict had procured, I started with the basics. According to our information this intitial stage is called The Arranging. Indeed by it's name alone it's rather obvious what it entails. A special order must be set whereby every element of the dinosaur must have multiple gyroids "arranged" next to it. The proximity must be close, and the dinosaur fossils must be placed in their physiological order. The details from here get less specific. Without divulging too much information, I can say there are numerous other "ingredients" to be included, such as electricity and certain chemical solutions.

I began my first trial of this process with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. I figured why not start at the top end of the food chain, and work backwards from there. The ferocity and power of the T-Rex is well documented, making their breed and obvious candidate for Dinosaurierabteilung. My initial results with this current arrangement have been less than positive, however.

I've set the specimen up as documented in the Third Reich's plans, and I've set my machinery up accordingly, but the only results I've achieved so far are warmed fossils and very agitated gyroids. If you thought the noises they created were annoying at their usual levels, you should hear what they sound like after umpteen thousand volts of electricity have been running through them for an extended period.

The shrill and almost scream-like sounds that eminate from these creatures forced me to leave Baron Manor whilst they recieved their prescribed dosage of current. It was all I could do to have a hunt around for some of August's new insects to clear my mind of their incessant and tortured wailing.

Upon my return little had changed, apart from my aforementioned results. I went back to the drawing board to try and work out where to go next. Then it hit me. Like a bolt of electricity ripping through a gyroid. As the more attentive readers will have noticed, my T-Rex specimen is actually missing its torso section. How on earth was I to expect a living breathing dinosaur to arise from its fossilised condition when it's missing the section of it's body that contains vital organs necessary for life?

I cursed my ineptitude as I removed the current array of gyroids from the experiment and contacted Herr Benedict with my results. Indeed, he had just discovered the same thing after attemtpting to resurrect and Apatosuarus without have its skull present. We both had a laugh over our mistakes and from there we decided to prevent the needless waste of gyroids until we can use them on fully complete fossils of our dinosaurs intended for resurrection.

Although our experiments are just beginning, we are learning the basics of resurrection technology. Our loss of a days worth of gyroids wasn't too great, and if anything it proved that the all the essential parts of a dinosaurs skeleton MUST be present before the other steps in the process are enacted.

Looking back I can see the futility of attempting to reanimate a dinosaur that is missing its torso, but it's all a part of the learning process. I expect to achieve more tomorrow as I will be working on specimens that I have the complete skeleton of.Even though I should be tired and in need of sleep, my mind is constantly sparking at the thought of what experiments I'll be able to conduct tomorrow.

Such excitement is a welcome change from the worry that has been in my thoughts most nights previous to this one in recent times. I feel like a child awaiting Father Christmas to arrive, imagining what wonders will await me tomorrow.

I just hope theres some fresh gyroids buried around Beppin tomorrow to bring back to the Baron Manor laboratory.